Grades K-2
Grades 3-5
Playground at Bell Creek Intermediate
Grades K-2
Levies, Reassessments, and Schools
David Graham helps to both explain how a reassessment works in this video. In the first half he discusses the financial revenue a public service like the school gets funding from it and how much that funding is. In the second half he discusses how an individuals property taxes may change despite the assessment bringing in a very little amount of money for the county.
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The school gets additional funding from the reassessment that ONLY comes from inside millage. Inside millage is a total of 10mils. BSS gets 4.5 of those mils.
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Reassessments happen every three years. So the school gets an increase in their total budget on reassessment years, but that amount does not increase again until the next reassessment, which means even this revenue source is partially 'fixed'.
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The estimate is that inside millage alone will only be a 1.4% annual increase in funds, so approximately $297,000/year.
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New developments realistically only account for about a 2%/year increase in school funding.
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Future reassessments will not increase the amount of money the school would get from the proposed 5.7mil levy.
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The current five year school budget forecast already accounts for a $400K/year increase from the reassessment and new developments and by 2024, the school still needs over $11 million dollars to correct the deficit.
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Every additional student added to the school population counters any additional revenue the school gets. As we discussed in the previous section, last year a child cost the school approximately $7,775 to educate. Since 2017, the last reassessment year, BSS’ student body has increased by 118 kids (including preschoolers, a portion of which the school covers).
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If the state or federal government apply any unfunded or underfunded mandates in the next 5 years, those expenses would also counter the additional revenue brought in by the reassessment or new developments.
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BSS has already been required to cover necessary safety protocols, personal protection equipment, sanitation supplies, and more as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was largely unfunded by the state and federal government.
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In addition, the state decreased school funding for last year, and is anticipated to further decrease our funding this year, as a result of the state's pandemic response.